Creating Safe, Inclusive Nutrition Education in Schools
Blog Post by Contributing Editor Sarah Ganginis, MS, RD, LDN
Steps you can take to facilitate safe, inclusive nutrition education:
Understand diet culture
Respect body diversity
Take an “all foods fit” or “all food is good food” approach
Health and nutrition is about food access, equitable healthcare, & so much more
Health and nutrition is complex. In a world that primarily looks at health through the lens of BMI, body size/weight, and a “thin” or “fit” ideal, we have to question how health and nutrition messages serve all humans, diverse in race, ethnicity, culture, gender, genetics, and more. In her book, “You Just Need to Lose Weight” and 19 Other Myths About Fat People, Aubrey Gordon defines diet culture as, “a system of beliefs and practices that elevates thin bodies above all others, often interpreting thinness as a sign of both health and virtue.”
Diet culture makes its way into classrooms as health and nutrition messages that are about making bodies smaller and limiting certain foods - often labeled, “unhealthy,” “junk,” or “bad.” This moral judgment prescribed to food does not take into consideration the complexities of nutrition, such as food access, finances, relationship to food, among others. Nutrition is often taught in “healthy” and “unhealthy” terms. Often, students are taught to put food in a “healthy/unhealthy” box, make a meal plan based on calories or “healthy” foods, and told that there are healthy and unhealthy ways to “manage” weight. As educators, it is critical to recognize that children and teens are growing and developing, and teaching any form of “weight management” is harmful and contributes to weight bias, stigma, and discrimination.
Health & Nutrition Education Recommendations:
Rather than focusing on health messages that promote weight bias, educators and parents should take a Health at Every Size® approach. Health at Every Size recognizes that, “all bodies are good bodies and all bodies deserve respect.” Do away with using terms related to BMI, “weight management,” or anything that elevates one body over another. Advocate for comfortable seating in classrooms for all bodies, and create classroom materials that represent body diversity.
Rather than labeling food as “good,” “bad,” “healthy,” “unhealthy,” or “junk,” take an “all foods fit” approach. Food is not nutritionally equal, but should be emotionally equal. Stressing over food choices or feeling guilt or shame with eating impacts overall health. We can feel good eating a meal that nourishes us, just as we can feel good about eating a food simply for the joy of it, like ice cream on a hot day, or cookies with our lunch. Educate students on nourishment for self-care, such as not skipping meals and learning how to pair foods together to stay fuller longer. For example, are there foods that can be added to meals and snacks to increase satisfaction in terms of nutrition, taste, or both? Consider some students may be selective eaters, have an eating disorder, have food scarcity, etc., and criticism or judgmental language with food is harmful.
Explore relationship to food. What might disrupt the ability to feel hunger? Or fullness? Are we skipping meals? Do we eat enough during the day? Do we have access to food? What is our emotional connection to food? Food is complex and can’t be simplified to “eat this, not that,” or “limit this, and avoid that.”
Above all else, all bodies deserve respect, access to care and food, and choice.
Sarah Ganginis, MS, RD, LDN
About the Contributor: Sarah Ganginis, MS, RD, LDN is a registered dietitian and certified intuitive eating counselor. Sarah is co-author of the children’s book, Around the Garden We GROW, inspired by the work she did to advocate and make changes to the Maryland State Department of Education’s health curriculum. You can listen and read about some of Sarah’s work with the health curriculum via the Sunny Side Up Nutrition Podcast, where Sarah was a guest, the New York Times article, Are Schools Teaching Kids to Diet by Virginia Sole-Smith, and the New York Times Bestseller, Fat Talk: Parenting in the Age of Diet Culture by Virginia Sole-Smith. Sarah is passionate about nutrition education and has a private practice in Maryland where she sees clients of all ages.